Running scared
by raven.lakrah
Summary: Callie Torres, badass tattooist, can't get over her ex-girlfriend Erica leaving her. She can't pull herself back together until a certain blonde woman shows up and gets the latina's attention. Both struggling with their past they decide to become "just" friends. But will that work out?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: I'm working on this fanfiction not alone, but together with Lola._

_So all the credit, critics etc. go to both of us._

_We hope you'll enjoy our story – comments will be very appreciated._

_Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction. We don't own anything, just borrowing the characters for a little._

_Grey's Anatomy and all its characters belong to creator Shonda Rhimes & ABC._

* * *

**Running scared**

**-Chapter 1**

_**by Raven & Lola**_

Callie Torres was sitting at the table, trying to come up with a proper tattoo draft for her next client, but her creativity was lacking badly.

Once again.

She grabbed the tequila bottle that was standing right next to her and took a big gulp, hoping that it would take the pressure from her, but she already realized that it wouldn't help at all while she swallowed the brown liquid.

She was drinking too much lately and Callie knew it, but the latina didn't know how to deal with her and Erica's break up.

Since the day her ex-girlfriend had walked out of her door, Callie's life, her whole world had gone to hell.

It was almost a year now and yet Callie felt as miserable as she had been back then when Erica had left town.

Maybe she was even worse now 'cause of all the drinking, but she wasn't able to stop.

Callie had no ideas anymore, she had barked away almost all her clients and she would be broke soon.

She wasn't even sure if she would be able to pay the rent for the shop and her small apartment next month.

Callie took a look at her watch just to realize that it was way past midnight and so she dropped the pencil, sighed heavily and went to bed. Clothes on and all. She simply was too tired to take them off.

And although Callie knew that she needed the money, the latina had decided to cancel the appointment for the next day anyway.

She might have been one of the best tattoo artists in town once, but that was long ago.

Now she was just some drunken nobody, who wasn't even able to draw anymore.

And nobody would like to get inked by such a loser – that was totally clear to her.

She would call that woman in the morning and she would tell her that she was sick.

She'd call that woman with the mysterious name Arizona.

Arizona Robbins.

* * *

For one short moment, Arizona Robbins wasn't quite sure anymore if getting a tattoo was the right way of starting her new life in a new city with new people and a lot of new possibilities.

On the one hand it might give her the look of a cool gangster girl, which could turn out to be difficult with her being a pediatric surgeon, but on the other hand it was a chance to get over the past.

A symbol for a new beginning…besides it was just a name and not a skull or something she wanted to have.

But Arizona actually didn't know where to put it. She starred at herself in the mirror to examine every inch of her body, but she simply couldn't decide.

Maybe this tattoo artist could help her, at least it was her job.

So, after figuring out that this was the conclusion of the day, she jumped into the shower and ended up in bed, starring at the ceiling.

'Cause although she really wanted all of this, she was more than nervous about her new job, the colleagues , simply everything.

Anyway, it had been the only right decision – it was her one and only chance to move on.

The next day Arizona decided not to think about her appointment later that day, so she went to the Seattle Grace hospital, just to know what it looks like from the outside.

She'd start to work there in three days and she didn't want to rush things – so she didn't walk inside that day.

Maybe tomorrow.

Just to take a quick look of course.

After walking around for quite some time and drinking a coffee at a bar named Joe's, right across the street from the hospital, she finally arrived at the tattoo studio.

Right in time.

* * *

Her head was killing her when Callie woke up and she wasn't even able to open her eyes to the full.

Yeah, she was hung over.

Definitely.

Feeling dizzy she crawled out of bed, stumbled into the bathroom to get a quick shower and she tried to remember her schedule for the day.

Callie knew she had wanted to do something, but she simply couldn't remember what it was.

Maybe she should try it with a little less tequila tonight…

When Callie finally was dressed for the day she took a look at the clock in her kitchen and froze.

2.17 pm.

And then it hit her – the tattoo appointment she had wanted to cancel.

The appointment with this Arizona Robbins.

"Damn it!" she yelled, clutching her hand against her forehead, just to jump 'cause of her now even more hurting head, which led to Callie bumping into the doorframe.

What a great start for a new day!

Coffee had to wait.

Grabbing her jacket quickly the latina stormed out of her apartment and while she ran down the stairs to open her shop she prayed that this Arizona had forgotten about her appointment.

But of course she hadn't.

Callie, completely out of breath, unlocked the door to the tattoo shop, just to look right into the bright blue eyes of a blonde woman, who flashed her dimples at her.

Well, helloooooooo…

For a second Callie didn't know what to say, but then she finally got a grip and led her client inside, aware that she didn't even have a draft.

Not to mention that she was far from being anywhere near of being sober.

First she wanted to clutch her hand against her forehead again, but she stopped herself right in time before her hand would have hit her skin.

Callie was headachy enough.

Taking a deep breath the latina decided to do the tattoo for that smiley, perky blonde woman, who seemed to be a little nervous, anyway.

She would do it free – hand, which always had gotten out the best of her.

She was Callie Torres, one of the best tattooists in Seattle, for Heaven's sake.

She was totally badass.

And she would get this tattoo done or hell should freeze…


	2. Chapter 2

**Running scared**

**Chapter 2**

Because of the fact Arizona actually didn't know what to say, beside hello, she simply decided to talk, or better babble, that would always work to get over being nervous.

She actually didn't know exactly what made her this nervous…was it the fact of getting the tattoo or the one she would get it from?

"_I'm Arizona Robbins, what you might know, because we made this appointment and I have to admit that I'm a little nervous 'cause I've never been…in here…I mean inside a tattoo shop. And your drawings are amazing, by the way! These are yours, aren't they? This is totally new to me, so… sorry for being kind of annoying, I'll be quiet now and wait for your commands!",_ Arizona smiled a bright smile, let her insecure gaze wander around the room and finally watched the latina, who, she found, was by the way very exotic and beautiful, what brought her back to being nervous.

So she just watched Callie doing whatever she did…

"_So how long have you been doing this? You do this for a living, right? That's exciting, isn't it?"_

She couldn't help herself, she simply wasn't able to stand the silence…

Callie wanted to scream.

If her head wouldn't have been aching already it definitely would hurt now.

Why didn't this woman stop talking?

She should have cancelled that appointment, but of course she had been too wasted to get up early enough for that.

Damn tequila!

So she had to put herself together now and do a great job, headachy or not.

It simply was her own fault and Callie knew that.

"_Uhm…yeah. I do that for a living…since…wait…almost 13 years"._

That seemed to calm the blonde woman down, at least a little.

"_And you don't have to be nervous…it's not that bad…but I have one question for you…where do you actually wanna have it?"_

When Arizona didn't answer Callie assumed that she had no clue, which was more than just right.

"_Want my opinion?"_ she tried in a friendly tone, knowing quite well that she still sounded grumpy.

A shy nod by the blonde was the only answer, which brought a smile to Callie's face.

A small one, but a smile.

The first one in weeks.

"_I don't know what you do for a living, but as far as I can tell…and actually it's quite obvious…you don't have any tattoos yet. So, I'd place it somewhere…where you can always see it when you want to…but hide it when you need to…like…",_ Callie got up from her chair and went over to Arizona to grab her arm softly, _"Like…on the inside of your upper arm."_

And looking right into the bright blue eyes she added, _"Or what do you think?"_

"_Uhm...I…that…seems good…",_ Arizona answered stammering.

She wasn't sure yet, what to think of that grumpy latina, who was having a lot of tattoos, of course. The one thing Arizona did know was that this Callie had an absolutely stunning smile.

"_Well, I guess you're the one who might know best, so…Arm is great!",_ Arizona tried optimistically and waited for her tattooist to say something. But the dark haired beauty just turned her back towards her and started preparing all the stuff she would need, at least that's what it looked like to Arizona.

She had to admit, that she felt a little uncomfortable, like not welcome at all. So without thinking about it any longer she just said, _"Maybe I should go and come back another day…You don't seem to feel well…Call…"_, but in that moment Arizona caught sight of the tattoo artist certificate, that was hanging on the wall and wondered, _"Call…Calliope?"_

The latina turned round, a furious expression on her face, _"Don't Calliope me!"_

"_O-o-okay. I'm sorry. __I…I didn't mean to upset you. I better get going…"_ the blonde woman grabbed her jacket quickly and headed towards the door.

"_Wait…"_ Callie tried to really sound nice this time, _"I'm sorry. It's just…the name. It's a family thing. Nobody calls me Calliope except them…and I'm having a crappy time at the moment, but that's none of your business either. So please…take a seat and I'll get that tattoo done for you."_

"_You sure?"_ Arizona looked at her, still a little insecure.

"_Yeah…yeah, I'm sure",_ the latina answered pointing at the seat next to her, _"And tell me something about that Timothy so I get a picture of him. What kind of person he is…makes creating a fitting tattoo a lot easier."_

For a moment the blonde woman with those stunning blue eyes hesitated and looked sad, but Callie decided not to rush her or anything since she hadn't been very polite, but then Arizona took a seat and started to talk about Timothy, the brave army guy, whom she missed terribly and Callie started to realize that she wasn't the only one having a hard time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Running scared**

**Chapter 3**

About one and a half hours later Callie was done with the tattoo and the outcome was surprisingly good.

Arizona seemed to be very happy with it as well since she was a smiley.

There was this name on the inside of her left upper arm now and it looked awesome. The lines were all clear and strong and yet it seemed to be so fragile too and that was the perfect expression for Timothy – a bastion of calm and yet all sensitive, always listening and caring, but strong.

A good man in a storm.

Like Arizona herself.

That was who she has been raised to be.

And that's exactly what Callie Torres saw in her too.

A great person, an interesting one.

A woman, who loved somebody enough to get his name tattooed on her body.

Others judge people by money or their look or whatever, Callie Torres, badass tattooist, measured people in tattoos and in people's willingness to receive pain to get them.

Under different circumstances she would have asked that Arizona out, definitely.

But the situation was what it was and maybe it was better that way.

So Callie gave the blonde a check-up appointment to see if everything healed up well in about four weeks and said good bye quickly, just to call her best friend Mark and ask him out.

That was safer on every level…

Arizona really was happy, although it had been quite hard to talk about her brother…

And she was proud…proud of the fact that this man was her brother, even if he wasn't with her anymore.

She had talked to Callie for one and a half hours. She hasn't talked to anyone that long for such a long time.

And it felt a little weird to be all alone again. To go home, where nobody was waiting for her.

She finally unlocked her door, threw the key in her small key bowl and put her jacket on the wardrobe.

Arizona didn't know what to do, she just felt lonely, kind of left behind. Everything had went wrong, nothing had worked out the way she had planned.

And she was so tired…tired of telling people how good she felt, tired of faking smiles and tired of being who she was.

Everything was good, everything went well…She had been good at her job, she had been in a relationship, she even had been able to talk with her father in a normal way, since…she couldn't even remember… It all had seemed so…perfect…

And then she had gotten this call…and her whole life had turned upside down…

The blonde lay down on her couch, held a glass of red wine in her left hand and stared out of the window.

Today had been a good day…the first one in weeks…months even.

She had been able to laugh…and it had been real…no faking…just feeling good.

* * *

Callie was sitting at Joe's with her two best friends – Mark and tequila, on the best way to getting completely wasted.

Again.

The day had went way better than expected, but the evening was cruel as every day.

Since Erica had left she felt numb.

She had thought she would be heartbroken and hurting, but it was a lot worse 'cause she felt nothing anymore.

The days were grey, the nights were dark and Callie herself was drowning more and more.

First she had tried to fight the darkness with tequila, then she had realized that it wasn't helping at all, that it actually made things even worse, but she hadn't found the strength to fight all this chaos in her life and had given up.

There was no point in fighting anyway.

What would she fight for?

The clients stayed away 'cause she had lost her inspiration and couldn't draw, so she would need to close her shop soon.

And since she didn't earn the big box anymore she wasn't able to pay the rent for her apartment , which meant that she would be thrown out of there soon.

Didn't sound like a promising future…

Mark was gossiping about a new colleague at Seattle Grace, who was supposed to start working in a few days and how excited he was to meet the new peds surgeon, who was, as rumors said, a hot blonde.

Callie didn't really care about that, but at least she didn't have to think about her own situation for a while.

And the more her best friend kept fantasizing about that woman he didn't even know yet, the more Callie thought about Arizona.

That cute woman, who had been all nervous and babbling.

The woman, who had this adorable dimples and the stunning blue eyes.

The woman, who had been at her shop to get the name of some guy tattooed on her arm.

The woman, who was out of reach.

And yet the woman, who had brought her back to life.

Even if it had been just for one and a half hours.

* * *

Two days later Arizona Robbins started her new job. It seemed to work out quite well, she knew how to cope with her tiny humans and got to know most of her new colleagues. She was glad that her job kept her busy, so nobody had even the chance to trap her into any kind of conversation.

Of course she didn't avoid them, she was simply glad.

It was exhausting to keep her feelings under control, but she smiled, skated around in her Heelys and made at least small talk.

Arizona also caught herself longing for the one and a half hours she had spent with Callie.

The latina was a total stranger to her, but even so she had been feeling safe sitting next to her and talking…

Arizona was on her way to the cafeteria in the early afternoon when she bumped into one of her male colleagues, who's name she didn't remember, in the elevator.

And although she didn't know whom she was standing right next to Arizona realized the second that guy started talking to her that the gossip about him was more than true 'cause he seemed to be hitting on everybody.

Even on her, which was more than ridiculous, but obviously he didn't care to bother asking if she was interested or not, he took that as a matter of fact.

Didn't change the point that he was wrong.

As wrong as it could get.

"_So, what about dinner tomorrow night?"_ he asked after babbling for a while.

"_Thanks, but no",_ was all Arizona said before she turned round and left for the opposite direction of where he was headed.

Coffee had to wait.

* * *

It's been almost two weeks since that Arizona had showed up at her shop to get that tattoo done and Callie still couldn't stop thinking about the blue eyed woman with the gorgeous dimples.

There was something about this woman she couldn't define and it drove her crazy.

And Mark talking about this hot new doctor at the hospital for sure didn't help, but Callie had to listen 'cause her best friend had paid her rent for the month, so she owed him. Kind of.

She hadn't asked him to do that 'cause everybody, who knew Callie Torres, knew quite well that she would be way too proud for that.

Mark had practically forced her to take the money and since she hadn't had another opportunity left she had given in – in the end.

But the stories about this hot blonde from the hospital, who couldn't be hot enough to cover the name Arielle in Callie's opinion, started to annoy the hell out of her.

And Mark seemed to turn into somewhat like a slobbering bulldog 'cause he couldn't think of anything else than getting that blonde into his bed anymore.

Jesus Christ!

And it was kind of ridiculous 'cause as far as Callie could tell that blonde doctor simply wasn't interested in him, but he ignored all her warnings.

But at least he couldn't blame her later for not saying a word if he wouldn't succeed.

Swallowing a big gulp of tequila Callie closed her eyes and prayed for Mark changing the subject, which, of course, didn't happen.

Great!

And right that moment she regretted that she had asked him out that day back then – instead of Arizona.

She simply should have asked her.

Maybe they would have become friends.

There was nothing wrong with having friends, who were married to army guys, right?


	4. Chapter 4

**Running scared**

**Chapter 4**

Her situation hadn't gotten any better. That Mark simply couldn't leave her alone and it was getting more and more annoying. Besides that, everything worked out fine…except her feeling incomplete… She didn't know what else to call it.

Secretly, she couldn't await her next appointment at Callie's shop.

Maybe she should ask her out to… Arizona shook her head to clear her mind, took a sip of her coffee.

In the best case Callie would just laugh about her and tell her to grow up.

When had she started to be so insecure? That was a question she asked herself a lot these days…

Her shift was already over but she couldn't bear to go home.

She was fed up with eating donuts and watching silly TV shows.

She wasn't able to read or to sleep well, it really was torture.

After a while she decided to go home anyway, at least to hide from Dr. Mark Sloan, who seemed to be too pig-headed to give up on her.

Arizona changed her clothes, put them into her locker, together with her beloved Heelys .

She had almost reached the front door of Seattle Grace to escape when she heard Mark shouting her name and something about having dinner at some place.

Maybe she should tell him soon, that he in person wasn't a problem, she didn't know him well enough to judge him on that yet, but he being a man actually was.

Well, for her it wasn't a problem like that, because it wasn't her intention to chase after him at all…but hopefully he would finally give up on her.

This time she just waved and made an excusing gesture and rushed out of the hospital.

Even if she actually didn't want to spend her evening eating donuts again, she wasn't able to not stop at Dunkin Donuts and take a box of 6 of these damn sugar cringles with her.

* * *

Callie was in utter euphoria.

Today had to be her lucky day.

Some guy had been to her shop right after she had opened it and had bought one of the paintings she had done years ago 'cause his daughter, one of her clients, was madly in love with said painting.

Callie hadn't taken him serious at first, but when he had offered her 5000 $ she hadn't thought twice about it.

5000 $ were a huge help for a broke person like her and it would save her from losing her apartment anytime soon, which released a huge burden from her shoulders.

And if that wasn't the coup of the day, Arizona showing up for her check up appointment in the evening for sure would be.

The blonde had called the day before to ask if Callie would have time for some minutes somewhen within the next week and the latina had scheduled the appointment right for the next day.

And now she couldn't even stop herself from grinning 'cause she was so excited to see the cute blonde with those stunning blue eyes and the gorgeous dimples again.

It's been over four weeks now since the perky woman had gotten her tattoo and Callie kind of missed talking to her, even when the conversation had been weird in the beginning, awkward even.

But today she would see Arizona again.

In less than an hour.

And since Callie had started to pace around nervously she decided to cover the time 'til Arizona's arrival with trying to make some tattoo drafts, although she wasn't sure if she would be able to draw a single line.

Arizona Robbins.

She still didn't know what it was, but something about the blonde did fascinate her.

A lot.

And with the thought of those breathtakingly beautiful eyes in mind Callie indeed started to draw.

After a while she got so lost in her work, that the latina didn't even realize that somebody entered the shop.

* * *

"_That looks amazing…"_

When Callie heard the words right next to her ear, spoken by a familiar voice, she almost fell from the chair 'cause Arizona had caught her completely off guard.

Her heart was pounding in her chest like crazy and it took the tattooist a few seconds to calm down.

To calm down and say _"Hi"._

So, there they stood and Callie didn't know what to say.

At all.

Her mind was completely blank.

Until she remembered the reason why the blonde was at her shop and so she asked the question she hadn't even wanted to get an answer to, _"What did your husband say to you getting tattooed? Did you get a chance to tell him yet? And did he like it?"_

Arizona looked at Callie quite in surprise. Didn't she mention that Timothy was her…

"_My…husband?!"_

She watched Callie nod in confusion and smiled a little embarrassed.

Of course she couldn't know…

"_I'm not married and if you have thought that this name was my husband's name…Timothy is…was my brother…"_

For a second the sadness returned to her blue eyes, but she tried to smile anyway.

She had to admit that she was way too happy for being sad. Happy 'cause she finally had gotten over the four weeks and could look at the beautiful latina, watch her smile and talk. Just talk… She had been longing for this moment so desperately.

Arizona had spent a lot of time thinking about Calliope, she honestly had to admit that.

"_Was? So he isn't your brother anymore, or what?",_ she heard Callie ask and it pulled her back to earth.

"_He fell in Iraq",_ she said solemn and quiet, stared at the bottom for a moment, then faced Callie again, trying to smile.

"_I'm…sorry. I didn't know…",_ the tattooist answered and looked quite uncomfortable.

"_Of course you didn't know…how could you? You don't have to be sorry_, Calliope", finally her smile had reached her eyes again and she flashed her dimples at the latina. She didn't want to think about what had happened in the past. She just wanted to feel good and enjoy spending some time with Callie. At least she was the only person, who actually made her feel good. Kind of odd…considering the fact that they barely knew each other.

"_So…do you want to take a look? I mean…that's what I'm here for, right?",_ Arizona said and pulled her sleeve up.

The moment Callie touched her bare skin to watch the piece of art she had left on her arm, it made her way more nervous than the first time Arizona had been in here. Maybe she should get her whole body tattooed next time…

'_NO, Arizona stop thinking, immediately!',_ she scolded herself.

The tattoo was fine, Arizona had followed all of Callie's instructions how to treat it. And as a doctor she of course knew.

Time had passed so fast, they had talked for quite a while and it seemed they couldn't bear to say good bye.

And although she was a little scared of what the answer would be, Arizona forced herself to ask in the end, _"I…uhm…wondered if you might want to have…coffee with me…sometime?"_

* * *

Callie couldn't believe it.

She must have misunderstood the blonde.

Had Arizona really asked her kind of "out"?

Well, it was just coffee, right?

Not a date or something.

Like hanging out with a friend.

But right that moment Callie realized that this had nothing to do with being friends.

As long as she had thought that Arizona was married she had been in a "safe" place.

Or at least that was what she had been telling herself over the last weeks.

Now that she knew that the blonde wasn't married at all things had gotten a lot more complicated.

It would be too easy to lose control, to cross the line between being friends and getting involved.

And the truth was that Callie Torres was nowhere near ready to get involved with anybody plus she still didn't know if Arizona was into women or not.

She for sure wouldn't ask her 'cause the latina didn't want to know the answer.

Either way it would be a disaster.

What would it help to know?

One way or another it wouldn't help any 'cause Callie didn't want to get her hopes high at all.

The disastrous relationship with Erica Hahn had been more than enough and she wouldn't be able to deal with another break up or anything.

Well, and first of all she wasn't even sure why she liked Arizona that much.

Maybe it was just sympathy and nothing more.

No feelings involved or anything.

Sometimes you just get to know people you like...like as a friend. Right?

No, she definitely should stay away from Arizona.

'Cause even if she would have a serious interest in the blonde Callie knew that she would be no good for her at all.

And so she finally shook her head_, __"I really appreciate the offer, but...uhm...no. It's nothing personal, but I had a hard time lately and I just started to get better. I haven't gotten much work done over the last months, so I really need to get back on track. Which means that I will be at the shop most of the time for weeks. Doing tattoos...you know...I simply will be too busy to have something like a private life. Sorry."_

Callie was proud of herself 'cause she had managed to say it in a nice, but yet convincing and professional tone.

It was better that way, that she was sure about.

But when she saw the disappointment in Arizona's eyes Callie started to feel bad, insecure even.

What if her decision had been wrong?


	5. Chapter 5

**Running scared**

**Chapter 5**

It should have been clear to her from the very beginning. Of course she was disappointed… who wouldn't?!

"_Well…Thanks then and…see you…someday…maybe…",_ Arizona murmured, waved good-bye and left the shop immediately. She felt so…dumb. Of course Calliope wasn't interested in her. She should have known.

She headed towards home, took a box of donuts with her, crawled onto her couch and covered herself with a warm blanket.

She should have known…

She was mad with herself, she simply should avoid people at all.

Days passed by, her life consisted of working, eating and sleeping 'til she couldn't stand it anymore.

It had been a week now since she had walked out the door of Callie's shop.

So, Wednesday night she found herself in front of Calliope's Tattoo Shop, again. The lights were still on, which meant that the latina was still there.

She definitely wouldn't go in there, but her longing for Callie's company was simply too strong.

She just had to see her again or it would drive her insane.

So, after a few minutes of hesitating she opened the door and stepped in, feeling a little timid.

* * *

Arizona had taken her by surprise.

Again.

Callie had been done with tattooing a client right the moment the blonde had entered the shop.

She had been so happy to see the blonde again 'cause she hadn't been able to stop thinking about her since the day she had declined the coffee invitation, but now that the perky blonde was here the latina started to feel weird again.

What would she tell her today?

She still didn't feel up to getting to know somebody although she knew quite something about Arizona already.

And she still felt sorry for her 'cause of the loss of her brother, but there was no way for them.

Being friends didn't work with people you were attracted to, right?

Whoa, was she really attracted to the beautiful blonde?

Of course she was.

At least a little.

Denying was pointless.

But then Arizona got her out of her thoughts immediately the second she asked Callie if she had time to do another tattoo.

And that question had Callie confused within a second.

The blonde was here to get inked?

Somehow the latina felt disappointed, but tried to hide it.

_Torres, we are getting a little megalomaniac here , aren't we?! Of course she just wants a tattoo! People aren't lining up for you once you say no. They move on. At least people like Arizona._

After a while Callie managed to nod and so Arizona was sitting on a chair right next to her only a few minutes later.

To get that flower tattoo done on her left shoulder.

The tattoo, which Callie had drawn the day when Arizona had been there for her check up.

* * *

Saying good bye to the blonde had been even more awkward than the last time and for a moment Callie had thought about inviting Arizona for coffee this time, but then her phone had rang and so the perky woman, who fascinated the latina more and more every time she saw her, had left with a new check up date in about four weeks.

But even Callie herself knew that she wouldn't stand another four weeks without seeing Arizona, so she decided to call her the other day.

Maybe.

That was the good thing about being a tattooist.

Clients always had to sign papers of agreement, so at least it would be no problem to get the blonde's number 'cause she already had it.

* * *

Two days later Callie was sitting at Joe's with Mark, drinking tequila.

Lots of tequila in fact.

They both were completely frustrated.

Mark 'cause of his new colleague at work, Callie 'cause of the thing with Arizona, whom she hadn't called yet.

She had wanted to, but never had found the courage to do so.

Meant that Mark was whining 'cause of the hot blonde at work and Callie was whining 'cause of the hot blonde from work.

Just with the difference that "her" hot blonde wasn't her colleague, but a client.

Which made things a lot easier on the one hand, but complicated as hell on the other.

"_Oh my God! There she is..."_

Mark pointed at the bar.

When Callie finally took a look she saw Mark's colleague Teddy Altman and a, somehow familiar, blonde.

And when said woman finally turned round Callie froze.

* * *

Mark had waved them over before the latina could have stopped him.

"_Calliope!"_

The blonde looked at her in surprise and Callie wished she would get struck by lightning.

"_You know her?"_

Mark looked at his best friend in disbelief.

"_You know him?_

Arizona seemed to be slightly annoyed.

"_Uhm...I guess...I need another drink. Excuse me."_

That couldn't be true. She had to get away from them. Both of them.

"_Wait! I'm coming with you",_ Arizona announced and before Callie could have done anything about it she found herself sitting at the bar.

Sitting at the bar with the woman she tried to avoid since weeks.

Sitting at the bar with Arizona.

Arizona Robbins.

And God knew why Mark had called her Arielle all the time...

* * *

She thought she had been dreaming when she had found her colleague Mark sitting with her Callie…wait, not HER Callie…just Callie.

And now she was sitting next to her at the bar. Finally.

"_Calliope, are you alright?",_ Arizona asked a little concerned, after watching her drink tequila after tequila.

Alright? Alright?!

She was practically everything, but alright?

Her best friend had a crush on her client. The client she was attracted to herself.

If Callie would have been forced into describing the situation with one word she would have shouted DILEMMA.

She waved Joe over, ordered a whole bottle of tequila and two glasses, filled them both and put one in front of Arizona, _"Drink. You'll need it."_

Drink?! It seemed like Callie was far away from being alright...

"_Uhm...",_ was the only word that slipped through Arizona's lips.

She reached for the glass, held it tight in her hand and wasn't sure what would come next...besides drinking.

"_Cheers then!",_ she smiled to hide her confusion and concern, secretly hoping to find out what she'll need it for soon.

"_That jerk over there",_ Callie pointed at Mark with her tequila glass, _"Is my best friend. He happens to have a huge crush on you and I bet he is annoying the hell out of you...especially since he thinks your name is Arielle"._

"_Yeah...something like that came to my mind after he asked me out for dinner the third time",_ Arizona joked and took a sip of tequila, _"But to be honest, and I feel kind of sorry for him 'cause he doesn't seem he'd got it yet, I'm so not interested... He doesn't think of himself being annoying, does he?",_ Arizona paused, watching Callie for a moment, then continued talking, _"Besides... my last relationship isn't over for that long, so... I don't know how to put it...I'm not quite ready to open my heart again, I guess...I...I'm sorry, I don't know how to explain, you know what I mean?"_

"_Oh, you bet. I know exactly what you mean..."_

With that Callie refilled both of their glasses and raised hers, _"To hell with the exes!"_

"_To hell with the exes!", _Arizona agreed, emptied her glass, put it back to the counter and added,

"_So, what's the name of yours?"_

There it was, the topic Callie hadn't wanted to come up. At least not yet.

But of course, lucky as she was, Arizona had asked the one question she didn't want to answer.

So what now?

Lying? Denying?

Or running away?

Which wasn't really an option 'cause she was too drunk to stand up. Made running away pointless, huh.

So, after a while of just starring at the blonde, Callie took a big gulp from the tequila bottle, she said, in something that was more like a growl than a well-spoken sentence, _"Erica. Her name is Erica. And yours?"_

"_Joanne",_ Arizona answered immediately, not realizing until now, what Callie had said.

"_Erica?! So...wait...you're...?",_ she definitely felt a little dizzy, and not only because of the tequila. But this time it was her turn to fill up the glasses.

Surprise!

"_Joanne? You serious? Oh my god...you are too?"_ Callie took another gulp from the tequila bottle.

She would have a killer headache tomorrow, but who cared?

"_And yeah, I'm as gay as it gets. And Mark is a total smartass..."_

* * *

All of a sudden, as if he would have heard her, Callie's best friend stood right beside them, trying to talk Arizona/Arielle into having a drink with him and Callie rolled her eyes, partly out of amusement, partly out of embarrassment and when he shot her an annoying look, the latina sighed heavily, _"You still don't get it? Don't be such a fool, Mark. She's playing on my team."_

"_Cheers!",_ Arizona raised her glass, emptied it and turned towards Mark,_ "Listen, I'm sorry...but don't you think Teddy is more like your type? I mean...at least she likes men! That doesn't mean I don't like you...I LIKE you, but you're not her", _Arizona pointed her thumb towards Callie, realized what she had said, blushed immediately, eyes wide open, and babbled,_ "What I actually mean is...I'm drunk and I'm talking rubbish!"_

Mark looked from Callie to Arizona and back like a ping – pong ball, slightly in disbelief.

After a while he tried to get the latina's attention, who seemed to be starring at the blushing blonde, _"Why is it that you always get the hot girls...especially the ones I want?"_

"_Uhm...because...I'm badass", _Callie answered without taking her eyes from Arizona.

"_Well...fine. You know what, Torres. You can have her...since I won't use my plastic surgeon skills to become a Martha instead of Mark",_ he turned round and was about to go, _"But ladies...you better take things slow...you might be a little too drunk for the dirty stuff. At least right now. We don't want you to do something you might regret later, right? Night."_


	6. Chapter 6

**Running scared**

**Chapter 6**

There they were, sitting at the bar at Joe's, dumbstruck by Mark's words and neither Callie, nor Arizona did know what to say.

Callie wasn't sure what to do 'cause it was more than clear that none of them was ready to get involved with somebody again and what made the situation even more complicated was Mark's interest in Arizona.

Her best friend Mark's interest.

And so Callie finally said what she thought would be best for them.

For all of them.

"_Listen, Arizona. I like you. I really do. But I'm nowhere near ready to let somebody new into my life and I guess neither are you. Plus Mark is my best friend. He might be a jerk at times, but he always has been loyal to me. I would never do anything to hurt him."_

"_But we can be friends, right? I mean there is nothing wrong with that, now is it?"_

Arizona looked at her, hope shining in her eyes, _"You know…I don't make friends easily. Especially since my brother died, but I like you too. It's easy to get along with you, doesn't matter how grumpy you are."_

Callie couldn't stop herself from laughing, _"I know I can be a total bitch. And I'm sorry for that. But that comes with the badass tattooist package."_

"_I see. That's fine with me."_

"_And yeah, I think we can be friends. Nothing against that. Plus you would look like a paint book soon if you would come to get tattooed every time I don't respond to your calls and stuff",_ the latina started to laugh really hard and the blonde blushed like crazy.

"_So, what about lunch somewhen this week?"_ Callie asked all of a sudden.

Well, that was what friends did, right? Spend time together.

And it was just lunch, not dinner.

Dinner would be way more serious.

"_Sure…well…actually I have to take a look at my schedule first. Don't know which shifts I got at the moment. But I could give you a call tomorrow",_ Arizona suggested with a smile, which showed her dimples.

All Callie could do was nod.

She almost had forgotten about the fact that Arizona had to be a doctor when she was one of Mark's colleagues.

And with that there was the other reason out on the plate why they could never get involved.

Erica had been working at Seattle Grace as well.

And although Arizona was so different from her, they still had one thing in common.

Doctors always lived for their job, their patients, their careers.

None of them would put their one partner first.

Ever.

And Callie knew she couldn't deal with that.

Not again.

After Arizona had said good-bye and had left with the promise to call Callie the next day, she stepped out of Joe's and took a few deep breaths. The cool night air hit her face and she tightened her jacket.

She felt the blood running through her veins, the alcohol still made her dizzy. But she was okay…

Well, Arizona felt…she didn't actually know precisely how she felt… ridiculous? Embarrassed? Kind of happy?

She could slap herself for talking so much nonsense… Well, was it all nonsense?

Wasn't it kind of the truth? Arizona had frankly admitted that she liked Calliope 'cause she really did.

And she felt rude about the way she had treated Mark. She should go and apologize…tomorrow.

It took her two times longer than usual to put the key into the hole and to finally open her door. Arizona wasn't used to drinking that much in such a short time at all. Besides a glass of wine now and then she didn't drink much, which lead to her feeling even more wasted.

She's just needed some rest and time to recover, that was all.

Tomorrow everything would be more clear… at least she didn't screw it up completely, did she?

The next day Arizona felt way better and highly motivated to put things right. After having a shower and a small breakfast consisting of coffee, she made her plan for the day while walking towards Seattle Grace.

She had to tell Mark Sloan that she was sorry.

She needed to invite Teddy for some coffee 'cause she had left her all alone last night.

And she had to look through her schedule to call Calliope because of her lunch invitation and finally convince her that she had been just a little sentimental last night.

Oh, and by the way she probably should get some work done.

Callie Torres was sitting in her studio, waiting for some guy, who had called in for an appointment some days ago, but she couldn't focus on getting the final draft done, simply 'cause she was too lost in her thoughts.

It was almost 7pm and auf course Arizona hadn't called yet.

Not that she would have expected something different, but she still was sad.

Kind of.

But that always had been the thing with Erica.

Besides all the other crap the tall blonde woman had done to her.

Callie never had been able to count on her, trust her.

'Cause whenever Erica promised to be somewhere at a specific date she had been late or in the worst case she hadn't shown up at all.

And it always has been work, a patient, an emergency, a breathtakingly complicated surgery that would help her with her career.

It always has been about Erica and her life, but never about Callie. Never about them.

It had made her feel unloved, less important than some patient Erica didn't even know the name of 'cause to her they always were just patients.

People, who would help her to get the career she had always dreamed of.

Callie always had felt like Erica would talk about rats in a laboratory instead of human beings.

And although she knew that Arizona was different, it didn't change the fact that she was a doctor none-the-less.

A doctor, who had her duties and responsibilities.

Was there even a place for her in Arizona's life?

Callie doubted that and so she decided that she wouldn't get her hopes too high 'cause not even friendships couldn't survive that lifestyle most of the time.

That was the thing with Mark.

He was a plastic surgeon.

Most of the time he made appointments for his clients, so he knew when he would be able to go home.

Except for emergencies, but it still was different than with all the other doctors she knew from Seattle Grace.

He always had been there, had never missed a single date, lunch or whatever.

Mark Sloan was the only person she had always been able to count on.

And that was exactly the reason why she probably should stay away from Arizona completely.


	7. Chapter 7

**Running scared**

**Chapter 7**

Arizona held the phone in her hand, dialing Callie's number for the third time, without a plan what to say exactly. But she'd just go for it now.

She heard the phone ring, praying for Callie to answer, but of course it was the answering machine that answered instead of its owner.

"_H-Hey Calliope, it's me, Arizona. About lunch…how's Thursday? If you prefer another day, just tell me. Uhm…and I'm sorry for yesterday, I'm a little… emotionally messed up I'd call it. Well, uhm…call me when you hear this. Bye!"_

There were hundreds of reasons, why Callie hadn't picked up the phone, of course. Although Calliope knew that she was about to call.

_Stop worrying,_ she told herself, let the cell phone slip into the pocket of her scrub and grabbed the chart of the 4-year-old Sarah Jones.

* * *

Callie couldn't believe it.

She was standing in her apartment, listening to the message Arizona had left, for the tenth time and she still couldn't believe it.

Arizona had called.

As she had promised.

And although Callie had tried to convince herself not to think too much of it she still was bouncing out of happiness now.

It had been a long day and doing that tattoo had been exhausting.

She took a look at the kitchen clock an realized that it was past midnight already.

When she had went upstairs Callie had felt the urge to eat something because she hadn't even grabbed a bite the whole day, but now she was too tired and it was so late.

It would be better to go to bed.

Definitely.

So she just grabbed her phone and let herself fall onto her bed, clothes on and all.

She had thought about cancelling the whole lunch thing all day long, but why would she?

The deal was friends, nothing more.

Nobody could blame her for that, not even Mark.

And she could be friends with Arizona, right?

And so she sent her a text message real quick before she drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

She would have lunch with Arizona on Thursday and she was all excited already, she barely could wait for it.

But it were still two days to go.

* * *

Although she had already been sleeping tight for some hours, she was awake immediately when her cell phone rang and in the darkness of the night that filled her bedroom, she tried grabbing it until she finally felt the cool plastic beneath her fingers.

'_Sorry, been working. Thursday is fine. Meet me at the shop around 11.30 am? I know an awesome Italian restaurant not far from there. Hope you like Italian food. Sleep tight, C.'_

She blinked a few times, read it over and over again and a beaming smile spread across her face.

Thursday! Only two more days!

_Calm down,_ she scolded herself.

Although Callie wouldn't read it anymore, she guessed, she typed a quick answer.

'_Great! Looking so forward to it! See u on Thursday, sweet dreams! A."_

She fell back into her pillow, sighed in relief and simply couldn't stop smiling until she finally drifted off to sleep again.

* * *

Callie barely had been able to concentrate on work the next two days, but she knew she had to 'cause at least she had gotten some clients back.

She needed the money, but also the distraction.

Otherwise she would spin around in this tunnel of darkness again soon and that couldn't happen.

Not again.

Erica had almost broken her and yet she couldn't get over the break up.

At least not completely.

It would take a lot of time to heal the wounds the cardio surgeon had caused.

But at least the motivation had come back and the inspiration as well.

And it all had started with the appearance of Arizona Robbins.

It scared Callie to death that she craved so much for being around the perky blonde 'cause she didn't want to get involved again.

That would just bring more drama to her life – that she was sure about.

And she simply couldn't afford that.

After a whole while of trouble she finally started to get better, to recover and she wouldn't let anybody take that away from her again.

Arizona and her would become friends, nothing more.

End of story.

But by the time she got ready for their first lunch as newfound friends, after two days, which had gone by so damn slow that she had thought she would lose her mind any second, she stood in front of her wardrobe, hysterically bouncing around 'cause she couldn't decide what to wear and right that moment Callie Torres had to face the fact that she had been lying to herself from the begin with.

No way she would be able to be just friends with Arizona.

No way in hell.

She was close to freaking out and that scared her even more 'cause it was the first time in years that she couldn't call Mark for advice.

She hadn't really talked to him in days 'cause Callie expected him to be mad or something although she knew that it was ridiculous.

It wasn't her fault that Arizona wasn't into men, now was it?

And still.

She felt guilty.

As if she would have betrayed him and she couldn't get rid of that feeling.

But she had to talk to him sooner or later, that she was aware of.

'Cause Callie was nowhere near ready to lose her best friend.

Not over this.

Not over a woman she barely even knew.

As much as she liked Arizona – if she had to make a decision it would be Mark.

It always would be Mark.

Maybe she should cancel that lunch thing, but when she took a look at the clock she realized that it was way too late for that.

And so Callie put on her favorite dark blue jeans and a dark red tank top, just to arrive at her shop right in time.

* * *

"_Calliope!",_ Arizona sparkled as she stepped closer and put a strain of her curly blonde hair behind her ear.

"_You look great",_ the blonde blushed immediately, remembering that this wasn't a date at all, just two new friends having lunch together.

"_What I mean is…uhm…sorry, you really do look great and I should stop talking…",_ Arizona smiled shyly, tightened her dark blue jacket.

"_Shall we?"_

She was way too nervous for having lunch with JUST a friend. Arizona couldn't deny that she was obviously attracted to the latina. But she also knew that, at the moment, there was no way for them to be together.

But she had to deal with that, and of course she would.

Friendship was better than nothing, wasn't it?

* * *

Now this was going to be an awkward lunch.

Definitely.

'Cause Callie couldn't take her eyes off the blonde and when Arizona had done that thing with her hair she had needed all her willpower to stop herself from reaching out for that strain of hair herself.

This whole pretending to be friends story was a total fail and she knew it.

She had known it from the begin with if Callie was honest.

So why hadn't she said "NO" back then?

'Cause it was better than nothing?

Well, she wasn't so sure about that anymore.

Callie had to face the fact that she was attracted to Arizona and being around her, being her friend and nothing more was just torture.

Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe she should come up with an excuse and…

No.

This was ridiculous.

Two grown women would be able to keep themselves under control and have a nice lunch together.

As friends.

And although Callie wasn't sure whom she tried to convince here she grabbed her black leather jacket and gave Arizona her best smile, _"Sure. Let's go. I'm starving."_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: hello everybody!_

_long time no see._

_we are a little busy with real life at the moment and so it took a lot longer to write an update than we thought it would. Anyway..._

_i wanted to say "thank you" to everyone, who is reading, commenting or favoriting this story. It means a lot._

_But I recognized some ppl not being happy with the storyline we have chosen._

_to those I have to say that this story is going to develop slow. So if you expect them to be together anytime soon you for sure will be disappointed._

_this is not a story, where you will find them happily together after 2 days, swearing that they will forever love each other and live in their own pink bubble._

_doesn't fit to the characters in this story, nor real life and rushing things never turns out too well._

_this is going to be process of two people getting to know each other and forming a bond, that will be stronger than their troubled past._

_that said I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter..._

_much love to all of you_

_raven_

* * *

**Running scared**

**Chapter 7**

She's hadn't had that much fun in months! Although it had been quite hard not to be flirty, and Arizona wasn't sure if she had managed that, they had a really good time.

Now she was on her way to the hospital, going over the lunch on her mind again and again.  
They've talked about everything and she had felt so damn comfortable, listening to Callie and watching every small movement the latina had made.  
"Hey Sparkles!", Teddy grinned, as Arizona passed by, totally absent-minded and smiling brightly.  
Arizona jumped at the sound of Teddy's voice, quite irritated.  
"Pardon?"  
"You look like a child standing in front of a huge Christmas tree…or like someone who is madly in love! Well, it isn't Christmas time yet, at least what I know…so…"  
"I went to lunch with Callie and I'm not in love! We're friends, you know? Just friends! Like you and me!"  
"Like you and me, huh? I've never seen you sparkle like that when we went out for some drinks", Teddy continued.  
"Stop teasing, I don't have a crush on her!"  
"Yeah, that's why you behave like you're 15!", the cardio surgeon grinned.  
"Pfff…", was Arizona's only response and she continued her way to her locker to change into her scrubs.

* * *

"Whoa, Torres! What happened to you? Are you actually smiling?"  
Mark had stood in the tattoo shop completely unexpected and he had caught her totally off guard.

"Yeah…uhm…I'm…fine. Have been worse", Callie finally managed to say.

"Fine, huh? You are glowing…bouncing around like a 5 year old. Who are you and what did you do to my best friend?"  
Mark looked at her, somehow amused, somehow in disbelief.

"Don't make a big deal out of it. It's nothing. I'm just…doing better. That's all", Callie tried to ignore the fact that he was watching every single step of her.

"Oh come on, Cal! What's going on? And stop lying…you know I always catch you."  
The expression on his face told her that denying was pointless, Mark already knew. Maybe not the whole truth, but he suspected something for sure.

"Hey, don't be mad at me, okay? I had lunch with Arizona and I don't know when I have laughed as much as I did today.. She's hilarious. But we are just friends. Not that you get the wrong idea…I would never…" she didn't know what else to say.  
It must be obvious that she had feelings for the perky blonde anyway. At least to Mark.

"Is that the reason you are avoiding me lately?"

"I'm not avoiding you, Mark. It's just..I don't know…I don't want to actually hurt you or something 'cause you were all crazy about your new colleague and stuff. You are my best friend for Heaven's sake".  
Callie just blurted it out. There was no way of saying that stuff smooth or something.

"Jesus, Callie! You act like I would be madly in love with her, but the truth is…I didn't even know her real name! I wanted to get her into my bed for a night, but that's all. You should know that 'cause you know me", he looked her straight in the eye to make his point clear, "If there is any chance that you find happiness with Arizona then go for it! Seriously. I'm not mad and I never will be. And if you don't get her somebody else will. But it clearly won't be me 'cause I am a guy. So what are my chances? Zero."

"It's not that easy and you know it", Callie tried to defend herself.

"I know. But don't use me or our friendship as the excuse to keep her on distance. I don't want to be the reason if you mess it up, Torres."

"Okay."

"So, you coming to Joe's tonight? Christina will be there too. She just came back from that cardio congress in New York."  
Mark looked at her expectantly.

Callie had wanted to say "No", but she missed the times when she had been hanging out with Mark and Christina every day.  
Back then her world had been alright, she had been happy.  
And then Erica had left.

"Yeah, fine. I'll be there."

* * *

"Hey Sparkles, you free tonight?", Teddy sneaked through the door, waiting for an answer.  
Arizona, concentrated on over viewing an MRI , answered without moving her eyes from the screen.  
"Why, what's on your mind?"  
"You heard of Christina Yang? She's one of my attendants, came back from a cardio congress in New York yesterday. We are all coming together tonight at Joe's and I just wanted to ask if you wanna join us?"  
"Oh yeah, I'd love to!", Arizona smiled, while writing something on the chart, she was holding in her hands.  
"Jeremy, you're not supposed to move, remember?", Dr. Robbins said trough the microphone, that was leading her voice directly to her teen aged patients who wasn't easy to handle at all.  
"But I'm bored, Doctor!", the boy groaned.  
"Well, then you're going to be bored for another 10 minutes! Your decision!", the blonde contradicted.  
"So I'll pick you up at 8 pm, is that alright?"  
"That's fine", Arizona responded, waved and Teddy was already gone.

After she had overhanded Jeremy back to the nurses, she went to check on her other patients.

It was definitely a good decision to join Teddy, she couldn't spend all her time thinking about Calliope. It would drive her nuts. Maybe Teddy was right and she behaved like a 15 year old when it came to Callie. She should stop that immediately...besides things were going way too fast.  
Well, not the thing with Callie itself. But she was feeling too good when she was around her.  
She had left Joanne only a few months ago and they were a couple for almost two years.  
Joanne had been quite the opposite of Callie, she had been a lawyer, well she still was, and everything was all about her perfect image and she had been totally focused on her career.

Arizona had lived with the 8-year-older woman in New York, had worked there as a Peds Surgeon in New York-Presbyterian Hospital.  
The blonde had to admit that leaving her job and all these tiny humans behind had been the hardest part for her.  
Her life had been so different from now... But it also seemed kind of ridiculous to her now. Not the job part...but everything else.  
Of course, she had had a rough schedule, as every doctor has. And so did Joanna for being a lawyer. What bothered her was the fact that they'd spent the whole time they had had together with going to dinner parties, thrown by important clients of Joanne; visiting public events and so on.  
She had to admit that it hadn't bothered her back then. Everything had seemed good, she had felt satisfied with that life. And maybe they would have had a chance to fix the relationship, if they just had taken some time for their own.  
But then everything had crushed down...It all had started with Timothy's death. Arizona would never dare to blame her brother's death for her mess of a relationship. But it was like the trigger.  
She couldn't deal with the world anymore. It had been so hard for her and that had been the time she had needed Joanne the most. Her girlfriend's universal solution just had always been the same...for every issue...go and do some work, helps to clear you mind and to focus on the things that really matter in life.  
As if her brother would not have mattered...  
Arizona hadn't been able bear it any longer. She had'nt been able to stand that there had been no space for being sad or mad or what else. So she had quit...everything...her relationship, her job, her life in New York.

The blonde had spent a few weeks with her family back then until she had been able to look forward.

Arizona shook her head slightly, took a sip of coffee while staring out of the big windows of Seattle Grace.  
She didn't want to spent too much thoughts about Joanne and her old life.  
It had been so odd... Joanne hadn't even been mad. They hadn't parted in dispute. They hadn't had a big fight at all.  
All Joanne had done had been giving her one last kiss and telling her to take care.  
That had been it. The end of the story.

Of course she had been angry at her...but she had decided to let it down for her own sake. It would have only distracted her from facing the future.

And now she was here in Seattle and had a crush on a tequila-drinking latina, who was working as a tattooist and who was, like Callie herself had announced, "totally badass".  
I'm completely out of mind, Arizona whispered to herself, smiling, 'cause she meant it in the most positive way.

It was ten before 8 pm, when Arizona Robbins finally got out of her scrubs and changed into clothes she had worn for lunch earlier.  
"You ready?", Arizona jumped, once again, at the sound of Teddy's voice.  
"Stop doing that!", Arizona complained.  
"Doing what?"  
"Giving me a shock every single time", the Peds Surgeon responded, now way more softly.  
"I'm innocent", Teddy laughed and threw her hands in the air.  
"But seriously, are you alright, Arizona? You look like something's really bothering you...I'm just concerned."  
"No, no I'm alright...I guess...But it's sweet of you to ask. Maybe I'll tell you, but I'm not done with thinking it through...Just let us go and have fun tonight, alright?"  
Teddy watched her for a second with her brows raised, then answered, "Okay, but if you wanna talk...you know, anytime...I'll be there!"  
"Same for you!", Arizona smiled, grabbed her bag and they left the hospital for Joe's arm in arm.

As they entered the bar a bunch of their colleagues were already there. Of course Christina was surrounded by all of them, but got up immediately, as she saw Teddy walking in. After the cardio resident had introduced Cristina and the blonde, they joined the others on the bench.  
Among the others there was also Mark Sloan with an empty seat next to him.  
"Hey Robbins, didn't know you were coming!", Sloan grinned and took a gulp of his beer.  
"Well, surprise then!", Arizona answered, while getting rid of her jacket...


	9. Chapter 9

**Running scared - Chapter 9**

When Callie came back from the restroom she went straight to the bar to order herself a drink, but much to her own surprise she ordered orange juice instead of some alcoholic beverage.

She had been drinking way too much lately and she knew it, so it was time for a change.

Definitely.

But when she turned round to return to Mark she bumped into somebody.

Of course.

She wanted to start cursing, but then she looked right into the bright blue eyes of a certain blonde she couldn't stop thinking about.

Arizona seemed to be happy to see her because her smile grew even wider, dimples and all, but the same second Cristina showed up and interrupted the scene.

Well, she couldn't know...

What exactly?

Callie tried to get a grip, but didn't really succeed.

She was way too confused by her own feelings and she was aware that she had to sort things out.

For her own good.

And before she could have reacted or said a word to Arizona she had been dragged away by an over – excited Cristina Yang, who was babbling about some cardio stuff Callie wasn't able to understand anyway.

That woman and her fanatic obsession with cardiology.

It drove her crazy at times, right this moment more than ever, but Callie loved her anyway.

Cristina and her had danced their crisis out together countless times with the help of Mr. Tequila, who was on vacation today, at least for Callie.

And she would never have survived the whole Erica Hahn debacle if it hadn't been for Mark Sloan and Cristina Yang.

The sarcasm she was throwing at people was sharp like a knife and it always hit its target – that was the special thing about Cristina, but it was a quality about her friend Callie had come to love with time.

After a while of listening to stories about hearts and cutting into them, ripping them apart and God knows what else, Callie finally stopped Cristina in her rambling by ordering her friend some tequila, "Drink that and gimme a break 'cause I don't understand a word, Yang!"

"Sorry, I got carried away...again. But it was so exciting to see that. Just imagine what you could do if you found a way to fix that heart..."

"Cristina!"

"I did it again, didn't I?"

Cristina Yang looked at her like a puppy, who was afraid of being yelled at.

"Yeah. Drink your tequila and everything will be fine", Callie countered and winked at her.

"Wait. Where is yours?"

"Not drinking today. I stick with my orange juice", the latina stated matter-of-factly.

Cristina almost spit the tequila right at Callie and looked at her in disbelief, "Callie Torres, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me. I drank too much over the last couple of weeks and you know it", the tattooist grumbled.

"I give you that. But..."

Cristina got interrupted by Mark, "There is no but. If she finally got a grip we should support that. Besides that...Torres here is madly in love with our new colleague."

"I am not madly in love with her!"

Callie almost started yelling.

"Oh, she totally is", Cristina said simply and the latina rolled her eyes.

Then the cardio attendant turned towards Mark again, "Who is it?"

"Mark, don't you dare..."

Her voice was trembling and she was ready to jump up and run away, but right that second Arizona showed up and Callie knew she was in trouble.

In big trouble.

"Cristina, may I introduce you to our new Peds surgeon, Dr. Arizona Robbins. Robbins, this is Cristina Yang, cardio attendant and total psycho", Mark announced with a grin.

"Shut up, Sloan!"

Yang was the one growling now, but then she calmed done and looked at the blonde woman in front of her, "I'm not a psycho. I'd just kill for a good cardio surgery."

"Uhm...nice", Arizona didn't know what else to say.

Callie bumped her head against the desk over and over again.

Could somebody be more embarrassing than Mark and Cristina? Especially when they were hanging out together?

She doubted it.

"Mind if I borrow Calliope for a minute?" Arizona asked all of a sudden.

"No, of course not", Cristina and Mark answered in unison and the blonde showed her dimples.

Callie wasn't sure what that was about, but she jumped up and took Arizona with her before one of her friends would say something stupid again.

When Callie came back some minutes later she was in a much better mode than before.

Arizona had invited her for breakfast on Sunday and the latina had accepted the invitation without a second thought.

Spending time with the blonde was one of the things that really helped her to move on, made her feel better, so everything was great.

But once she saw Mark and Cristina, grinning from ear to ear, she got all moody again, "What?"

"Oh my God, you are so cute", the plastic surgeon said.

"Oh yeah, sooo cute", Cristina nodded.

"Oh, shut up, will ya? We are just friends..."

Callie tried to defend herself, although she didn't know why.

"Suuure. And I don't wanna be a cardio surgeon anymore and become a nanny instead", Cristina Yang countered.

By imagining that even Callie had to laugh out loud, "Now don't be ridiculous, Yang. We don't want poor innocent kids to have nightmares for the rest of their lives."

Although she hadn't been able to talk with Arizona much more that night Callie had enjoyed it.

Cristina and Mark were hilarious and she loved them 'cause they were the best friends she ever had.

Breakfast with Arizona a few days later had been awesome and they practically had spent all day together till the blonde had left for her shift at the hospital.

And with every time they saw each other, spent time together, Callie felt more and more drawn to Arizona, but she knew she had to stay away.

For both of their sakes.

And life seemed to agree on that because after that Sunday Callie had been so busy tattooing that she hardly ever had gotten a chance to see Arizona.

They had met for half an hour, for a quick coffee here or there, but that had been all.

Callie simply wasn't in the position to cancel appointments because she needed the money to fully recover from her financial debacle and once she had time Arizona had been working or an emergency at Seattle Grace had ruined their plans in the last minute.

And so the weeks had went by and Callie had gotten more frustrated every day.

That day it was worse than ever because she had been done with work early, but Arizona had to work at the hospital.

Of course.

She missed the blonde terribly and she was aware of the fact that she indeed had fallen in love with the perky peds surgeon, but she would never admit that. At least not to anybody than herself.

So Callie decided to kill some of her free time by driving around with her motorbike because she didn't know what else to do, but she should regret that decision not even half an hour later.

Arizona felt like freaking out.

YES, she missed Callie!

YES, she hated the fact that they had seen each other only a a couple of times in the past few weeks.

And YES, she wanted to see her immediately!

"Dr. Robbins, are you alright? You seem to be staring at the wall for like 5 minutes now!", the little girl, named Robyn, asked in concern with her squeaky voice.

"What?! I-I'm sorry!", Arizona panicked. That was new! She'd never been THAT distracted from work. That whole thing was going to reach a dangerous point now.

It was like living on withdrawal.

"I'm alright, Sweety. Got carried away for sec, won't happen again. Never ever, promise! I swear!", Arizona tried to fix the situation, but the girl still watched her sceptically.

"Sit down for a minute, doctor and tell me what makes you so sad!", the 7-year-old girl ordered and tried to sound very professional.

"You're so cute! ", Arizona chuckled. "And I so forgot that your mother works as a psychologist!"

"So let me guess...You are lovesick!", the girl squeaked.

"And why do you think that?"

"It's obvious! You have all the symptoms. Like drifting away, staring out of windows and smiling like you've seen a unicorn!", the little psychologist persisted.

"And you sure you're 7 years old? You're clever!", Arizona sighed, but simply couldn't stop smiling.

"I know, that's why I skipped first grade!", the girl told proudly.

"So, who is your prince? Or is it a princess? I know how this works, my aunt has girlfriend!"

Arizona couldn't help herself, that tiny human was super-cute!

"Well, actually it is a princess...", the blonde laughed by imagining Calliope a pink dress and a tiara in her long, black her.

"And why are you so sad then? Does your princess not love you back?"

"Well, you know...that's the point Robyn. I'm not sure about that, actually! It's kind of complicated..."

"You grown-ups make everything complicated. At least that's what it seems to me", the girl suggested.

"Why don't just ask her, Dr. Robbins?", Robyn was getting tired, fought against the up coming sleep.

"Yeah, you're right...Maybe I should do that. But you should get some rest now, little Miss Freud", Arizona smiled and stood up.

"I'll check on you later", the blonde promised, but Robyn had already fallen asleep.

Callie stumbled to the back entrance of Seattle Grace, looking like a truck had hit her.

Blood was running down her face her lip was swollen, her hand bruised.

She had "met" an old "friend" of hers while she had been driving around.

When the latina had been younger she had been in the same gang with Carlos.

She had felt lost and left alone when her parents had gotten divorced, especially since her wealthy father had disappeared without caring if her mom would be able to raise her and her sister Aria alone, without any financial support from him.

It had been a hard time for her, most of all because her mother had started to drown her sorrows in alcohol and she had to keep the household going, watch out for her younger sister and deal with her own problems alone as well.

But then she had gotten to know Carlos and his gang and she had felt wanted, thought that she had found people she belonged to.

And for a while she really had found a family in them and it also had been Carlos, who had recognized her talent for drawing, had introduced her to a great tattooist, who had taught Callie practically everything she needed to do it for a living.

So she had owed Carlos.

Kind of.

But instead she was the reason he had spent the last ten years in jail.

Simply because she had found out that he had been dealing with drugs, had beaten up some of his "customers" and she hadn't been able to live with that.

So she had talked to the police when she had found out that they had been observing him for a while because of the drugs.

She had wanted to be loyal because Carlos and his gang always had been, but when she had seen this 14 – year – old girl, lying on the floor, covered in blood, begging for some pills and him beating her some more because she had dared to ask him for drugs without being able to pay them and Carlos having no mercy at all, Callie had realized that there was a line between being loyal and doing the right thing.

And in the end she had decided that she wanted to be a good person, so she had cooperated.

And with that she had betrayed Carlos and the gang.

Half of the members had been arrested not even two days later and so she and her family had been safe.

Some years later two of them had shown up at her shop, but she had been lucky that day because her client at that time had been a cop and so these two smartasses had went right back behind bars.

But today Callie Torres hadn't been as lucky.

Carlos was out of jail and of course she had to run into him right away.

He had hit her badly and now she was trying to sneak into Seattle Grace unnoticed so Mark could take care of her wounds.

Or at least that was what Callie was hoping for.

It had taken her much longer than she had expected to get into "their" on-call room.

The one Callie and Mark always met at when one of them needed to talk or something and Sloan had to work.

It was the last one at the long corridor, the one, which hardly ever got used, and when she finally had arrived there she just crashed to the floor because she was too exhausted for anything else.

Taking her mobile phone out of her pocket she sent Mark a text that she would need his help as a doctor and that she was waiting for him in the on-call room.

Unfortunately Mark Sloan was in an emergency surgery and since he had no idea what was going on he told the nurse to page Dr. Arizona Robbins and tell her that her presence would be required at on-call room 7.

It couldn't be that bad or at least that was what he thought and at least it would give Callie and Arizona a chance to spend some time together.

"Sloan, are you kidding me?!", Arizona groaned, while she stuffed her pager back into the pocket of her dark blue scrubs.

She just came out of surgery, her hair still covered under the pink flower cap.

"I hope for you it's important as hell...", she mumbled while heading through the hallway in the direction of the on-call-room.

"Sloan? I hope you didn't pagel me without having a good reason", Arizona growled, as she pushed the door open and stepped in.

"Mark? Where...Oh my gosh...Calliope?!", the blonde shrieked and stared at the harmed latina in disbelief.

"W-what happened? Oh God...", she hurried to Callie's side and watched her in horror.

"I'll take care of you, I promise, but please don't move!"

Callie didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Where the hell was Mark?

And how was it possible that Arizona of all people showed up instead of him?

Especially since the blonde was the one person, who wasn't supposed to see her like that.

Ever.

"It's not that bad...just gimme some band-aids and I'll be gone in no time", she mumbled.

No way in hell she would tell Arizona the truth.

She would keep her out of this.

Definitely.

And she would even make Arizona stay away.

Everything had become way too dangerous today and Callie was aware of that.

But when she recognized the stern look Arizona was giving her, the latina realized that it wouldn't be so easy to convince the perky blonde of that.

It wouldn't be easy at all.

Not even for herself.

And then Arizona put one hand on her shoulder and Callie cringed in pain.

She had suspected it to be dislocated and from what the latina could tell it really was.

Damn!

How was she supposed to work the next day?

Freakin' hell, this can't be true.

For now she had to focus on staying calm and pretending that it didn't hurt that much because otherwise Arizona wouldn't let her go, that Callie was sure about.

With the help of the peds surgeon she managed to get back to her feet, but her head hurt like crazy and Callie knew she was close to fainting.

_Stay strong, Torres._

_You can do it. You are badass!_

She kept repeating those words on her mind like a mantra.

And she succeeded.

But it took a while till Arizona had cleared and covered all her wounds, not to mention the re-locating of her shoulder.

Once the blonde was done she gave Callie a smile, but that smile never reached Arizona's eyes.

The latina felt bad for acting up on her, but what choice did she have?

She would keep Arizona out of this.

End of story.

One hand in a sling she had problems to get up, so the peds surgeon had to help her again and then Arizona announced all of a sudden, "Wait here. I'll be back in a few minutes. I just need to change my clothes and check on a patient then I'm done with work today. You'll stay at my place."

"Thanks for the offer, but..."

Callie tried to decline, but the blonde interrupted her immediately, "Calliope, there is no but. You might have a concussion, so it's either my place or a night in the hospital. Your decision."

"Fine."

She sighed heavily, but the expression on Arizona's face had made it very clear to Callie that arguing was pointless.

And so she found herself on the way to the blonde's apartment, which was just a few hundred meters away from Seattle Grace, just some minutes later.

"Welcome to my home!", Arizona opened the door to her apartment and held it open for Callie.

She wasn't sure at all what to think about this 'Callie-showing-up-and looking-like-a-total-mess-thing', but now she could at least take care and keep an eye on her.

"Give me your stuff, I'll take care of it!", Arizona offered in a friendly tone.

"And go and find yourself a seat, I'll be right back."

"I actually don't...have any stuff...", Callie answered and walked slowly towards the couch.

"Oh well, right, sorry. Then let me get rid of mine real quick!", Arizona disappeared in her bedroom, then vanished into the kitchen to make some tea for them both.

A few minutes later she put a steaming cup in front of Callie on the small couch table, then let herself down on the other side of the sofa.

"You can have my bedroom for tonight, I'll stay on the couch, I don't mind!", the blonde offered and took a sip of tea.

"No way, thanks but no. I'll stay here ", Callie countered.

For a while they sat there in silence.

For Arizona none of this made sense.

Callie showing up like a total wreck, Mark sending her to check on the latina. Not saying a word and it made the blonde felt like a fool, not having a clue of anything.

"Okay, this is totally weird Calliope! Would you please tell me what's going on?", Arizona finally demanded to know.

Callie really wanted to tell her the truth, but she couldn't.

'Cause then she would need to tell Arizona everything about her past and her family and there was no way she would go there.

She didn't want anybody's pity, especially not Arizona's.

And if Callie was honest she was ashamed of how she grew up. Compared to the blonde she had nothing to be proud of.

Arizona had a career, had been to university and she had done some tattooing and drinking.

Great.

Actually she was on the best way to become like her mom.

So what would she tell her?

It really was a dilemma because Callie didn't want to lie to Arizona, simply because she truly liked the blonde and except from that the peds surgeon had taken care of her and worried about her.

Plus they were friends or whatever people would call what they were.

"I just met an old friend of mine", Callie said after a while.

No, she wouldn't.

Recognizing the skeptic look on the blonde's face she added, "Well, we were friends before I helped the police getting him into jail 'cause I found out that he was dealing with drugs. He is out now though...obviously."

She was so afraid that Arizona would ask more questions, but much to Callie's surprise she didn't.

The blonde just nodded in understanding and the latina was slightly relieved.

Maybe Arizona had sensed that she hadn't wanted to explain things any further.

And all of a sudden Callie realized how glad she was to be with Arizona right this moment because being near her always made her feel better.

Sure, the blonde couldn't take away her pain, not even the painkillers seemed to be able to, but looking into those stunning blue eyes kept Callie distracted and she was unbelievably grateful for that.

Even if she had to sleep on that small couch.

Would be fun, but at least she would see Arizona first thing in the morning.

After they had talked for quite a while, which had been Arizona's attempt to distract Callie from her pain, she couldn't stifle a big yawn.

"Sorry...I'm...so tired! And you should definitely get some rest too", the blonde yawned again and rubbed her eyes.

"You sure you don't want anything? Something to eat? Another cup of tea?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks."

"Really? Okay...Bathroom is over there. If you should get hungry, just help yourself, okay?"

Arizona got up, put her cup aside and took Callie's as well.

"I just need to...", Arizona reached for the sling to open up the couch, so Callie could use it for sleeping.

After a while of pulling and tearing in all possible directions Arizona came to the conclusion that it was stuck.

"You need some help?", Callie offered, while she had watched the blonde, who was now frustratingly blowing a strain of hair our of her face.

"I-I'm...fine!", Arizona replied and stemmed her feet against the couch and tried the whole thing again.

"Now that's awkward...", she noticed, smiling excusingly.

Arizona had tried it a few more times, but without any success.

And since Callie was not able to help her with one arm in that damn sling, they had given up.

"Listen, I'm fine. Call me a cab and I'll go home", the latina suggested.

"I won't do that, Calliope. As I said before...you might have a concussion and I'm not leaving you alone with that. Not only because I'm a doctor, but 'cause you are my friend", Arizona answered, sounding all serious.

And although Callie was aware of the fact that they never would be more than friends it hurt to hear how easy it had come over the lips of the blonde.

Arizona seemed to be fine with being friends, but it became harder for Callie every time she saw the perky blonde woman with the stunning blue eyes.

"Well, you have to sleep in my bed then", Arizona announced all of a sudden, "Which is no problem at all since it's huge."


	10. Chapter 10

**Running scared**

**Chapter 10**

That had Callie out of her thoughts within a heartbeat.

She should sleep in the same bed as Arizona?

No way in hell!

That would be torture.

That would be...

NO!

But before she would have been able to say something, the blonde had already grabbed her by the arm and had dragged her with her.

Sitting on the the big bed she watched Arizona searching for something in her wardrobe until the blonde turned round with a _"Yay!"_ and a satisfied smile on her face.

The peds surgeon put a dark green t-shirt right next to Callie, then she headed for, what had to be the bathroom, _"I just go and change my clothes, Calliope. But I'll be right back to help you get changed yours..."_

And with that she was gone.

The latina sat there, a little dumbstruck for a moment.

Arizona wanted to help her out of her clothes?

Now that would be a bad idea.

For sure.

But the problem was that she couldn't move properly with her left arm in that sling.

What to do, what to do?

Callie started to panic.

It wouldn't really surprise Arizona that practically her whole body was covered with tattoos, now would it?

Well, she was a tattooist for heaven's sake!

Why did she wonder about that now?

That should be the least of her sorrows.

And maybe that whole badass tattoo look would scare Arizona off completely.

Would solve all of Callie's problems.

She had to get out of her clothes before the blonde would come back, so she grabbed her shirt with one hand and tried to pull it over her head.

But of course, since it was Callie's lucky day, she got stuck.

And then she heard Arizona, who seemed to be standing right next to her, _"I so knew that you would be too stubborn to wait, Calliope."_

Great.

Just great.

* * *

Arizona put her hand down to touch Callie's bare shoulder softly, before pulling the shirt carefully over her head.

Although it was quite hard she had to act as a professional here because she was here to help her friend.

The shirt lay next to them on the bed and Arizona stood in front of Callie, stroking back the long black hair.

The latina's body was covered with dozens of flowers, a huge dragon, symbols and quotes.

But the blonde didn't dare to watch closer or even longer, because she didn't want to make Callie feel uncomfortable.

_"Wow, that's beautiful, Calliope...",_ she whispered, but went on with changing Callie's clothes the same moment, _"I guess this feels weird to you, but we're almost done..."_

Arizona pulled the dark haired woman to her feet, grabbed her arms tenderly and turned her, so she faced Callie's back.

Looking at the latina's body felt like getting a story told. All these tattoos told something about Callie, about her life, about who she was.

Arizona, of course, didn't know the meanings behind them, but even so...

She grabbed the dark green shirt, placed it on her shoulder, so it was within her reach.

Her hands were shaking, of course she was damn nervous...undressing the woman she was kind of desperately longing for...

She bit her lower lip, closing her eyes for a short moment until she finally opened the zipper of Callie's bra carefully and let it fall on the bed.

_"It's like you're coffee and I'm milk",_ Arizona said quietly, smiling insecure, what Callie couldn't see, while the blonde dressed her again, this time in the green shirt.

After Arizona had finally pulled off the trousers, too, she grabbed all of Callie's clothes.

_"Done...make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back!",_ Arizona said, vanishing in the bathroom again.

Closing the door behind her, Arizona leaned her back against it, closing her eyes again.

That had been torture...

But she was able to do this...she was able to be a good friend...she had to be.

The blonde watched herself in the mirror for a second, then shook her head in a determined way, turned off the lights and returned to her bedroom.

* * *

Callie couldn't breathe.

Well, she couldn't think straight either.

Her heart was beating against her chest like crazy, her thoughts were doing flip flops in her head.

Having Arizona that close, feeling her hands on her bare skin had been so overwhelming that the latina practically was in "shock".

Shock might be the wrong word, but the sensation Callie had felt, was more than she could take.

At least at the moment.

Maybe it just were the pain meds, which had made all that so intense, but the latina knew full-well, that they weren't the reason for her feeling that way about the beautiful blonde.

Pain meds had nothing to do with that.

Not at all.

How she should be able to sleep in that bed, right next to Arizona, was beyond her and Callie didn't know what to do.

But then she remembered what Arizona had said some minutes earlier, _"It's like you're coffee and I'm milk"_.

And together they were café latte or what?

Callie had to laugh at the simple thought and that took the tension from her, at least a little.

She sat down on the huge bed quickly and moved herself in a lying positon successfully, which made her feel a little better because it was something she had managed to do alone.

The second her head hit the pillow Callie took a deep breathe and inhaled the scent, which surrounded her.

A scent that was unique.

A scent that was totally Arizona.

* * *

When she returned, Callie already lay in bed. So now she only had to get herself in there. Arizona had absolutely no plan how she should get over this night. Lying next to Callie, simply knowing that she was there, right by her side. But out of her reach at the same time.

After turning off the lights she slid under the blanket, relieved that it was dark and Callie wasn't able to see her blushing cheeks.

_"Good night, Calliope. Sweet dreams! If you need anything, just wake me!"_

_You won't need to wake me anyway...as if I could get some sleep..._, she added in mind.

Her heart was beating so loud, she actually was afraid Callie could hear it.

_Stop being weird, Robbins, _she told herself, determined trying to think of sheep to count.

YES, this definitely was torture!

* * *

Callie held her breathe.

Arizona was lying next to her for real.

_Oh God, please make me faint!_

But of course nothing happened,

_Would have been too easy, huh?_

_Torres, stop having conversations with yourself..._

_"Uhm...good night, Arizona! Sleep well..."_ she finally managed to say, _"And thanks. For everything!"_

And although the latina didn't know yet how she possibly could fall asleep lying just inches apart from the woman she...

_Stop!_

_No more of this feelings crap today._

Callie tried to keep herself under control.

Yeah, she had feelings for Arizona.

And no, she wouldn't act on them.

Ever.

It was that easy, wasn't it?

At least in theory it was.

And she was able to do that.

End of story.

* * *

But Callie should be proven wrong right the next morning.

She didn't know when or how she had fallen asleep, but she must have zoned out in the end because she just woke up.

And the second the latina opened her eyes a huge smile turned onto her face.

Arizona was lying there, one hand under the pillow, sleeping with a smile on her lips, looking all peaceful.

Callie was sure she hadn't seen anything more beautiful in her life.

Watching the blonde sleep made her so unbelievably happy and if she had been able to Callie would have stopped time right then to keep that moment forever.

But of course she couldn't.

And there was this strain of blonde hair she so desperately wanted to put behind Arizona's ear.

Of course she would never dare to actually touch it, but...

No, she couldn't.

And yet Callie reached out with her good arm and only a few seconds later her fingertips wandered over the soft and smooth skin of Arizona's face carefully.

Praying that the peds surgeon wouldn't wake up she did what she had intended from the begin with and put said strain out of Arizona's face and for a moment Callie thought the blonde's smile had grown even wider, but that was impossible, right?

Arizona was still sleeping, wasn't she?

* * *

She had to be dreaming, hadn't she?

At least that's what she had done the whole night since she had finally managed to fall asleep.

Arizona didn't dare to open her eyes...she didn't want to wake up...it simply felt too good...too good to be real...

They had spent the entire night in one bed, being so close to each other. That might have been the first and the last time.

What had little psychologist Robyn said?

_You grown-ups make everything complicated._

Well, actually that kid was totally right, wasn't it?

Well, on one hand it seemed like the most simple thing in life.

But on the other hand...it was complicated as hell...

Arizona was awake, of course she was.

How couldn't she be?

But she didn't dare to open her eyes, afraid that Callie would immediately back off.

They had to talk this over...

Arizona was okay with being friends...concerning other people.

She couldn't be just friends with Calliope.

The blonde simply couldn't stand being this close and so far away at the same time.

She still felt Callie's touch on her skin, she savored it so much, never wanted to miss it again.

But Arizona also wanted to have clear conditions.

So she finally did open her eyes...

* * *

Callie pulled her hand back immediately, _"I'm...sorry...you...uh...your hair. Thought it might tickle your nose and...since we are friends..."_

_"It's okay, Calliope! First of all...good morning. Coffee?"_

_"Hell, yeah!"_ the latina was completely enthusiastic from one moment to the next, _"I mean, yes, please."_

Arizona jumped up and made her way to the kitchen and Callie sighed heavily.

_I really need to work on my manners..._

She wanted to get up herself, but it wasn't as easy as the latina had thought.

In fact she must have looked like a bug, that was lying on its back, struggling like crazy.

At least the blonde was in the kitchen, which meant she wasn't able to see her.

In the end Callie succeeded though, much to her own surprise, and she stumbled into the kitchen, aware of the fact that she had to focus on being nice since she wasn't a morning person at all.

In fact she could be a real grouch in the early hours, but the latina didn't want to seem ungrateful or anything.

_"So, what is the plan for today?"_

Arizona asked as soon as Callie had taken a seat on the living room couch,_ "Since you can't work with only one good arm and I'm off work we could spend the day together"_, the blonde announced with a smile while bouncing around.

_"Uhm...sure...why not?!"_

Callie almost chocked on the sip of coffee she was drinking right that moment. This was going way too fast for her taste, simply because her brain wasn't working properly yet and so she realized too late what she had agreed too.

_Staying away from Arizona would be the other way round, Torres!_


End file.
